A Banjo, a Brick, and a Bible

·30 min·2 clips

Strike leader Carrie Smith emerged from City Hall with a brick in one hand and a Bible in the other, declaring, 'girls, we can't lose.'

This episode of Labor History Today tells two intertwined stories of music and labor organizing. First, it explores how folk musician Pete Seeger used his banjo and songs as tools for union building, civil rights, and environmental activism, even facing blacklisting. Second, it uncovers the nearly forgotten 1933 Funston Nut Strike in St. Louis, where Black women workers led a successful strike, symbolized by the powerful image of a leader holding a brick and a Bible.

As heard by us

Songs and strikes become a sharp lesson in how workers build power.

Labor History Today brings Pete Seeger’s idea of song as collective action into focus through the 1933 Funston Nut Strike, where Black women workers helped organize more than 2,000 people across segregated factories.

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Want labor history that starts with a banjo and ends with a strike?

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